(Video courtesy of YouTube/HeavyMMA)

You would think that, considering the way that their last fight ended, that Rashad Evans wouldn’t be very excited to face Lyoto Machida any time soon.

Well it looks like Rashad either has short-term memory or that he’s ready to face his fears, considering that judging by the video above, he seemed to genuinely want to fight Machida when the fight was all but a done deal. Then when “Suga” heard that Lyoto pulled out of the bout due to a “lack of Anderson Silva money” being offered to him for the fight, he really seemed to be crushed.

Growing up in the gang-infested town of East Paulo Alto California, Eugene Jackson used his fists to settle any conflicts he had. He soon realized that his punching prowess could be used to earn him some cash in addition to the street cred he had behind his name in EPA, so in the 90s he began fighting in MMA where he would fight 25 times, under the UFC, Strikeforce, IVC and IFC banners against guys like Wanderlei Silva, Joe Doerksen, Jeremy Horn and Ricardo Almeida.

Having retired with a 15-9-1 record after losing to Joe Riggs in Strikeforce back in 2007, Jackson decided he wanted to give local kids a leg up that he never had so he opened up a a non-profit gym for at risk youth with his own money in 2009. The facility, which was little more than a warehouse with some mats, heavy bags and a crudely thrown together collection of weights became a hugely popular community center where teens who might normally be enticed into gang-banging would hang out every day to hone their fighting skills.

Eventually city authorities demanded improvements to the building that he could not afford and he was forced to close the gym, but that didn’t deter him.

Look, these two guys are never going to fight, okay? Even Sakara has permanently given up on it. Which makes this video from Ranger Up almost a collector’s item — a memento from a mythical bout that never happened. The RU boys filmed it a few weeks ago, back when it looked like the middleweight slugfest was finally going to come to fruition. No dice. Now all we have is this preview package, in which Alessio and Jorge talk about how much they respect each other. What’s the opposite of “no love lost between these two”? “Lots of love lost”? Because that doesn’t make any damn sense either.

(Does a Kimura by any other name hurt just as much? Pic: JudoInfo.com)

To enter the cage, to square off against another man trained to hurt you, makes you a tough guy. To make him surrender—the fight, his pride, his win bonus, his status in the sport—makes you a fighter. To become so proficient, so inventive in the art of submission that they name a particular form of kicking another man’s ass in your honor, that makes you immortal. One by one these men will fall, each and every one of them, but every time a limb is cranked, every time a man is rendered unconscious, their legacy will live on. Here’s a tribute to five men whose names grace the finer side of fighting.

The Kimura

(“Okay, bring in the giant banana-dong.” Photo courtesy of Brittney Palmer’s Facebook page.)

Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere. E-mail feedback@cagepotato.com for details on how your site can join the MMA Link Club…

- The Ten Most Interesting Octagon Offerings in the Next 100 Days (Five Ounces of Pain)

- Scott Jorgensen Welcomes Jeff Curran Back to Big Leagues at UFC 137 (5thRound)

- Former UFC Fighter Justin Wren Puts Career on Hold to Answer Divine Call (MMA Fighting)

- Cung Le Discusses His Fighting Future, Says if It’s Not With the UFC He’s Done (LowKick)

- The Top Ten Exhibitions of Denny’s Street MMA (MiddleEasy)

- Dan Henderson’s Greatest Hits (MMA Convert)

- All Balls Brawl: An MMAmania Interview Exclusive With Gesias Cavalcante (MMA Mania)

- Nate Marquardt and the Issue of Accepting Responsibility (FightOpinion)

- Fight Nerd Cinema: “Ip Man” Movie Review (TheFightNerd)

- The 20 Goofiest MMA Fighters Ever (BleacherReport.com/MMA)

- UFC to Air Cruz vs. Johnson on Versus (MMAPayout)

- ‘TUF 12′ Finalist Michael Johnson Faces the ‘Sassangle’ at UFC on Versus 6 (NBC Sports MMA)

In case you wondered what the disparity looks like.    PicProps: MsTracyLee/CombatLifestyle

Well, it took our boy Pat Barry about two years to get a fight that he’s long thought would be fun: he’s set to face off with Stefan Struve in October at UFC Live on Versus 6. UFCLoV 6 (that acronym is still roughly half as ludicrous as DREAM’s last show) is expected to go down in Washington, DC; so far it has not been confirmed that all fights on the card will take place in five-sided cage dubbed The Pentagon (Trademark Pending), which will be manufactured under contract by KBR for a taxpayer cost of six million dollars.

MMAJunkie reported that verbal agreements had been made for the bout, and we assume smear campaigns and sex scandals are being developed as we speak.

Skyscraper comes into the bout off of a pretty gnarly KO loss to Travis Browne at UFC 130 in May.  For the record, Struve is 6’11″ with 83 inches of reach.

Our boy HD comes off of a KO loss as well, in a bout that you may remember with Cheick Kongo last month.  Barry stands at 5’11″ in his tighty whiteys with 74 (and 1/2) inches of reach.

This is happening, people.  There’s going to be raw viciousness and genuine dislike in the air, plus we’re going to send trained fighters who like to kick people really hard into a cage and let ‘em fight.  Should be awesome.  Did we mention this shindig is supposed to go down in DC?  Man, Congress is full of scum — won’t this hurt the sanctioning effort?

[RX]

(Video courtesy of YouTube/vitalskillsspcl)

What is a former PRIDE champ to do when he gets to the U.S. five days prior to his next fight? Head to the mall, of course. What else?

Fedor arrived in the U.S. today ahead of his Strikeforce bout Saturday with Dan Henderson and immediately hopped inside a white stretch limo (are those still classy in Stary Oskol?) and jetted off to the closest shopping center with his colorful entourage. Perhaps he was in search of a new medium Glorious Sweater of Absolute Victory.

First stop? Toys ‘R’ Us, naturally. Where else would a group of burly middle age Russians go?

(Rory and GSP prior to MacDonald’s UFC debut in 2010.)

When UFC welterweight Rory MacDonald first signed with the UFC, he made the tough decision to move away from his home and longtime training centre in Kelowna, B.C. to Montreal so he could train with Canada’s best MMA camp, in Tristar/Zahabi MMA.

One of the main reasons for the move was so he could train alongside Georges St-Pierre — the man many considered to be the top welterweight fighter in the world. Although he admits that the top-tier training sessions coupled with the more frequent and higher volume strength and conditioning periods took some time to acclimate to, MacDonald says his more stringent preparations have paid off in dividends.

(Props: NightmareofBattle via MiddleEasy)

Following his release from the UFC, Denis Kang has kept a somewhat lower profile, competing for promotions like W-1 in Canada and Impact FC in Australia. But a return to the big leagues is even less likely now that he’s dropped two straight. In May, Kang suffered a first-round submission loss at the hands of Jesse Taylor — not a good look for a formerly top-ranked fighter who once went 23 consecutive fights without a loss — and last Sunday he was flattened by local talent Seung Bae Whi in a slugfest at Road FC 3 in Seoul, South Korea.

Here’s the video of round 2 of that fight. Things really start to heat up around the 2:30 mark, and Kang is face-down taking knees to the head on the mat by the 3:00 mark. Good to know that at least in South Korea, PRIDE neva die. Are we seeing the end of the line for the Super Korean?

(Never let your chick go on vacation by herself. Am I right, Tiki? Props: Twitter.com/AriannyCeleste)

And here we have UFC ring girl Arianny Celeste on a beach in Saint-Tropez, giving a peck to the kind of surrealist phallic symbol that passes for public art in France. AVERT YOUR EYES, CHILDREN! There’s so much wrong with this picture — which is why it’s so perfect for a caption contest on a slow news day. Do your worst in the comments section; we’ll pick out some winners later this week and award some CagePotato t-shirts. Good luck…

(Video courtesy of Dan Henderson/Twitter)

If there was any question as to what kind of shape Fedor Emelianenko would be in for his upcoming Strikeforce fight Saturday night against Dan Henderson, this photo should answer it.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/SNETCF)

If we didn’t know better, we’d say that the folks at Sportsnet commissioned an AI robot from Round 5 in the “likeness” of Dana White to put the fighters he interviews at ease. But sadly, it’s just Canadian MMA talking head “Showdown” Joe Ferraro asking Chael Sonnen questions in an unnatural radio announcer timbre and inflection in the videos above and below.

Even Chael seems taken aback by Twiki’s voice at first, or maybe it was just because the interviewer’s opening of, “Talk a bit about your next opponent Brian Stann,” left “Showdown” open for a predictable Wikipedia-worthy account of Stann’s fight bio.

“…and I also understand that he always takes a penny, and never leaves one. He once killed a puppy with a kitten. He wears black all the time. He’s a malefactor, a villain. I don’t really know him from Adam, but f*ck that guy.”

Mark Pavelich, the owner/CEO/Gran High Poo-bah of Maximum Fighting Championships, is not the kind of guy who holds back his feelings. He’s an expressive, gregarious type who uses Twitter like he was getting bonuses for followers, and describing him as “outspoken” would be like saying Amy Winehouse liked to get high.* And right now, he’s feeling pretty pissed off at the Son of Winnebago Man.

It seems that recent moves by Bellator, particularly acquiring top MFC talents Douglas Lima and Ryan Ford, has worked the Pav’s nerves to the point that he had to go on Twitter to air his grievances, and then follow that up with an interview so he make sure that everyone understood the words that were coming out of his mouth. Pavelich insists that Bellator has signed unspecified fighters that are currently under contract with MFC, and Bjorn is an idiot. Furthermore, Pavelich doesn’t even know who this Bjorn guy is.

(Props: UFC)

It’s kind of hard to believe now, but before his current streak of eight consecutive decisions — and directly after his oddball no-contest against Rob Emerson — Gray Maynard actually knocked somebody out in the UFC. This went down at UFC Fight Night 11 back in September 2007, and the victim was Joe Veres, a wrestler from Columbus, Ohio who was making his UFC debut.

As you’ll see in the above video (starting at the 0:57 mark), Maynard catches Veres with a lead left hook almost immediately, and makes it official with some gnarly shots from the top. Total time expenditure: 9 seconds. Since that night, the UFC lightweight contender has spent two hours and 10 minutes of fight time without a stoppage. But hey, there’s always next time…

(Photo courtesy of TMZ)

Just three months after he wrecked a Toyota Scion while preparing for a celebrity race in Long Beach, Tito Ortiz was involved in another vehicular misadventure this weekend. The UFC light-heavyweight contender — man, it’s weird to write that again! — was involved in a three-car collision near a Denny’s in Costa Mesa that left his beloved Rolls Royce Phantom with a busted grill.

Nobody was injured, and Ortiz didn’t even seem that pissed off afterwards. But the Huntington Beach Bad Boy later confirmed that he cried a little, since the Rolls was his favorite car and repairs won’t be covered by insurance.

And so, Tito Ortiz narrowly dodges the UFC 133 curse, which makes us wonder: Is this like a Final Destination kind of thing where Tito now has to injure somebody on the UFC 133 card himself since he escaped a violent fate that was clearly intended for him?

(Video courtesy of YouTube/ChaelSonnenTV)

Chael Sonnen gave this recent interview in which he sort of explains why he developed his new cocky persona that was born some time after his fight with Yushin Okami. Prior to that bout, Chael was praising upcoming opponent Paulo Filho for working through his mental and substance abuse problems to get back into the cage to compete, going as far as to say that he “admired” the embattled Brazilian who had beaten him a few months prior.

It turns out that Sonnen consciously began forcing himself into “walking the walk” as well as “talking the talk” after coming to the realization that he was selling himself short psychologically.

(That’s what we call ‘marketable skills’.)

It’s been a strange, at-times painful trip for our good buddy Gerald Harris. After being released by the UFC after his first loss in four appearances, Harris dropped a decision in a rebound fight against James Head at an Xtreme Fight Night event in February. Head earned a ticket to the UFC while Harris secured his place on the outside looking in. ‘Hurricane’ finally got back to the win-column with a decision over former Strikeforce contender Anthony Ruiz at Tachi Palace Fights 9 in May, but broke his hand in the process.

Luckily, things are about to get a lot better (we hope). Harris announced on his Twitter page today that he’s signed a multi-fight deal with DREAM:

(Pyle partaking in MMA’s newest training craze: coffin planking.)

By CagePotato Special Contributor Mike Schmitz

Our friend Mike Schmitz  from TapouT VTC caught up with UFC welterweight fighter Mike Pyle Monday morning and hooked us up with an exclusive interview for The Potato Nation ahead of “Quicksand’s” upcoming UFC 133 bout with 22-year-old Canadian phenom Rory MacDonald.

Check out what Pyle had to say about a variety of topics, including his training, his upcoming fight and what he thinks about being an underdog against MacDonald, after the jump.

(Shouldn’t have trusted him in the first place, Jorge.)

As first leaked by Mike Chiappetta, UFC middleweight Alessio Sakara has been forced to withdraw from his UFC 133 main card bout against Jorge Rivera due to a torn ACL. If you were just struck by an eerie sense of deja vu, here’s why…

Sakara and Rivera were originally paired up for UFC 118, but Rivera was forced to withdraw due to a broken arm. (Sakara was quickly matched up with replacement opponent Gerald Harris before bowing out himself due a knee injury.) The two fighters were re-scheduled for UFC 122 last November, but Sakara pulled out on the day of the fight after experiencing flu-like symptoms that were either weight-cut related, or tuna-related.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/GinaCaranodotorg)

Last Friday at Comic-Con Gina Carano made a rare media appearance to promote her upcoming starring role in the Steven Soderbergh blockbuster film “Haywire,” which is set to be released in theatres in January 2012.

The interview above with GinaCarano.org was apparently her first since losing to Cris ‘Cyborg’ Santos in 2009.

Check out the full transcription after the jump.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/HelloJapan)

According to a report by Tatame, Bibiano Fernandes (8-3) will cut to bantamweight to compete in this year’s DREAM bantamweight grand prix. The former DREAM featherweight champion will drop to 135 for the first time since losing a 2006 King of the Cage championship bout to then-champion Urijah Faber when he competes in the opening round of the tournament against a yet-t-be-named opponent on September 24 in Japan.

Mondays. Do we need to tell you that Mondays are the worst day of the week? This was scientifically verified, by the way, because scientists always study things that are self-evident to most people with some damn sense in their heads. I expect scientists to jump right on the phenomenon of videos featuring Joanne Spracklen and Hillary Williams and their massive popularity.

Hey brainiacs: it’s because these are two well-educated women discussing BJJ; one of whom is a world champ and an effing genius, while the other knows her roll (see what we did there?) and has an adorable South African accent. There’s no mystery here. Go figure out why it’s 2011 and we still don’t have hoverboards.

Make your Monday a bit better by checking out this video, in which Williams demonstrates how to turn that pesky defending arm into a victim of hyperextension. It’s a slick transition from one side of the body to the other, and a perfect example of turning your opponent’s strength into a weakness. Watch it twice, and then go practice in your garage.

[RX]

(“I’d rather lose the best fight of my life than win the worst.” Photo courtesy of Sherdog)

On August 14th, Chris Lytle will step into the Octagon for the 20th time in his career, when he squares off against Dan Hardy at the aptly-named UFC Live: Hardy vs. Lytle in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It will be Lytle’s first-ever headlining bout for the UFC — as well as an opportunity to re-claim the title of “Most Bonus-Worthy Fighter in UFC History.” (He currently shares the honor with Anderson Silva and Joe Lauzon.) We recently spoke to “Lights Out” about some of his most memorable UFC fights, his upcoming scrap against Hardy, his crowd-pleasing style, and the tough lessons he’s learned along the way. Enjoy…

CHRIS LYTLE vs. BEN EARWOOD — Lytle’s UFC debut
UFC 28, 11/17/00
Result: Defeat via unanimous decision

“I’d been fighting for less than two years at the time, but as soon as I started training, I got really involved in watching the UFC. I knew who all the key guys were and I knew it was the pinnacle of the sport, so it was my goal to be there. We only fought two five-minute rounds [at UFC 28], and they’d started having fighters wear gloves not too long before, so it was just way different. Earwood was more of a wrestler — he just tried to hold me down. I don’t think they stood us up once.

Back then I was training with Jason Godsey and a few other guys maybe two or three times a week. Every one of us had real jobs, full-time jobs, and this was something we did for fun. I definitely felt like we were good fighters — Jason was King of Pancrase, and beat a lot of good guys — but we didn’t train every day. And after that fight I kind of realized…I didn’t feel like Earwood was any better of a fighter than me, I just felt like he had a better gameplan than I did, he stuck with it, and he trained more than I did.

I think this is British for “Your spotted dick jokes are original and clever, sir”.

When it was first announced that UFC 138 was going to be headlined by Leben vs. Munoz, we had our doubts about the card. Unless your last name is “Silva”, “Okami”, “Stann” or “Sonnen”, there isn’t really a reason to be excited about the winner of that fight getting a title shot. Fortunately, even without a compelling main event, there should still be some pretty interesting fights on this card. It also helps that it will air on Spike TV, meaning that you won’t have to pay extra to watch it. And, for what it’s worth, Ariel Helwani is reporting that Leben vs. Munoz will be the first five round, non-title main event.

The UFC recently announced the addition of a welterweight fight between John Hathaway and Pascal Krauss to the card. A Brighton, England native, Hathaway is 5-1 in the UFC. His most recent outing at UFC Fight Night: Nogueira vs. Davis saw him pick up a split decision victory over Kris McCray. Undefeated in ten professional fights, Pascal Krauss is looking to build on the momentum he gained in his UFC debut, a unanimous decision victory over Mark Scanlon at UFC 122 which earned him Fight of the Night honors. That fight also marked the first time that Krauss has ever seen the third round in his professional career.

Curran connects with flying knee #27.

Two of the three opening acts were short and sweet and the feature bouts went the distance, but it wasn’t hard to figure out who won any of the fights at last night’s Bellator 47. If anything, I’m more confident in the disparity of skill sets featured in the tournament semi-finals than I am the fights where someone got steamrolled. That’s not to say it was a bore to watch, and it’s not to say that the tournament finale won’t impress. It is to say if you missed the action, keep reading and I’ll clue you in.

The combined weight of the two fighters in the evening’s opening bout nearly equaled that of the four tournament competitors. Realizing that fans don’t want to see two big boys huffing and puffing at the start of round two, Zak Jensen and Neil Grove did us a solid and came out swinging in a fight that proved that the best defense is a good offense (well, at least it proved true for Grove). The heavyweights went right to work trading bombs, with Grove dropping in the first five seconds. He secured a single and the two continued to hockey-fight on the ground before Grove went for an ankle lock. Jensen countered by punching Grove in the gut, which reminded “Goliath” how fun it was to punch and he released the hold. A failed triangle attempt by Jensen ended up with Grove in his guard raining down blows and drawing the referee stoppage at 2:00 into the first round.

That’s not a photo, it’s a two minute video loop. (Pic: CageSideSeats.com)

Remember that little incident a couple of weeks back when referee Len Koivisto did everything but hold a mirror below Kim Couture’s nose to make sure that she was finished breathing before finally calling an end to the bout? Those of you who lashed out at him for his incompetence may now issue him a heartfelt apology in our comments section. You see, as MMAJunkie reported yesterday, the Calgary Combative Sports Commission—a council of supposed experts and professionals that oversee our sport—have decided that his actions warrant neither a reprimand nor retraining.

In the course of their investigation, which clearly didn’t include video of the sub-two minute fight, they found Koivisto to be a man who “has always taken his ring official’s duties very seriously and conducts himself with a great deal of professionalism.”

So, that’s it, right? He’s a veteran referee who’s never shown himself to lack the knowledge required to oversee a mixed martial arts fight. Oh wait, he totally has…

Video Props: CageToday.com

Want to impress your fellow MMA fans? When one of them mentions “this crazy one punch knockout I saw on YouTube” at some point today, tell them that the fight was from last night’s Legacy Fighting Championship 7 in Houston, Texas. It was Pete Spratt, who you totally remember from his pre-TUF 4 career, knocking out Antonio Flores. Then tell them that you’re some kind of author or something. That usually works for me.

Notice how Michael Schiavello says at the 1:13 mark that Flores’ chin is up a little too high for his liking? And Frank Trigg immediately posits that Pete’s about to exploit that? That’s called “foreshadowing”, in case you’re actually going to use that whole author thing. The forty year old Pete Spratt then placed a well timed left hook to the dome of Antonio Flores, and that was all she wrote. Pete Spratt may only be 23-20 in his MMA career, but as indicated by the 21 stoppages to his credit, he is always fun to watch.

“Shhhh…don’t cry, I’m sorry! I thought you were into that.”

There is news coming out of Brazil that multiple time BJJ & ADCC champion Kyra Gracie is working her way toward the cage. Given the Gracie legacy in MMA, the move is not entirely surprising, but what is nice to hear is that Strikeforce is still trying to build their female ranks.

Kyra gave Tatame the scoop:

“Ive been training boxing and Judo. It’s something that can happen, too. I already received some proposals and I know MMA is becoming bigger. They (Strikeforce) contacted me, invited me. I also received a proposal from Japan. We’re negotiating, setting some things with them (Strikeforce). Let’s say that, if I already had a contract, I’d be ready to fight today.”

For those of you not fully familiar with Kyra, we’ve taken the liberty to include a complete biography shameless pictorial after the jump.

Remember the good ol’ days?

Another weekend is here, bringing us another batch of fights confirmed by the UFC for future events. You know the drill. This weekend, a total of five fights have been announced, two for UFC 135 in September and three for October 29^th’s UFC 137.

Yesterday the UFC announced the addition of a featherweight bout between Manny Gamburyan and Diego Nunes to the prelims of UFC 135. Expect Manny Gamburyan to be fighting with an extra sense of urgency in this one. The TUF 5 runner-up has lost two straight fights in Zuffa, most recently dropping a unanimous decision to Tyson Griffin at UFC Live 4: Kongo vs. Barry. Three straight losses would more than likely grant Gamburyan his walking papers. Likewise, Diego Nunes was last seen at UFC 131, where he lost to Kenny Florian via unanimous decision in Florian’s featherweight debut.

A bantamweight fight between Cole Escovedo and Takeya Mizugaki has also been added to UFC 135. Escovedo was last seen at UFC 130 in May, where he lost by unanimous decision to the impossibly long named Renan do Nascimento Mota Pegado, aka Renan Barao. “The Apache Kid” is 1-3 in his last four fights and needs to build some momentum if he wants to stick around in the UFC. Likewise, since his Fight of the Year worthy performance against Miguel Torres, Takeya Mizugaki has gone 3-3 in Zuffa, most recently dropping a unanimous decision to Brian Bowles at UFC 132.

Check after the jump for the fights added to UFC 137

Referee Josh Roshenthal and his evil, goateed twin declare Voelker the winner. (Pic: Strikeforce.com)

It’s been clear in recent months that Strikeforce is losing its grip on its top talent, but last night its Challengers series continued to plug away in its mission to develop the MMA stars of tomorrow. The action yielded a few decisions, a couple of exciting stoppages, and some much needed direction for Strikeforce’s female fighters.

For the third time in fourteen months, Bobby Voelker and Roger Bowling locked horns under the Strikeforce banner, and the rubber match did not disappoint. Bowling was the energetic aggressor from the onset, mixing up his strikes and throwing numerous hard body kicks in the first round. Voelker landed a few shots of his own, but he was too passive and flat-footed to answer most of Bowling’s attacks. A first round eye-poke bent Bowling over, bringing fears of a second early stoppage via inadvertent foul in this series, but “Relentless” was able to continue. Round two saw Bowling pushing the action again as he worked tirelessly for the takedown, but Voelker landed a big knee with his back against the cage that rocked Bowling backward. A few follow-up punches dropped Bowling and a few more on the ground sealed the deal, earning Voelker the win and the tie breaker by TKO.